Extensive graded reading in the liberal arts and sciences

Abstract

For this research, learners did extensive graded reading (EGR) with traditional graded readers, and they also interacted with short graded stories in the liberal arts and sciences (LAS). This study describes the purpose and format of the LAS stories used by hundreds of university students and adult learners in Japan. It summarizes the results of two semester-long pilot projects done with 10 students in 2008 and 24 students in 2009, and it compares how both these groups perceived their experiences of doing EGR with traditional graded readers in combination with graded stories in the liberal arts and sciences. Lastly, this study examines how students learned vocabulary from the LAS stories that they used. The results support the idea that learners enjoy, are motivated by, and can gain vocabulary knowledge through using short graded stories in the liberal arts and sciences.